I have decided it's time to own my dream, and to that end have bought my domain name!
Therefore this blog has now moved to http://dreamingofsize12.com
Please come and see me there!
Friday, 19 August 2011
Monday, 15 August 2011
Ssshhhhhhh!
Can you keep as secret? Promise to keep it under your hat?
Well, here it is, but I don't want the whole world knowing it - I'm back at Slimming World as of today, and as fat as ever. When you look up the phrase Yo-yo Dieter in the dictionary, you'll find my picture there. It's not a pretty sight.
So I have sat through several series and 3 continents worth of The Biggest Loser and allowed myself to slowly but surely absorb the message - exercise and healthy eating will change my life and win me £250,000. Only one of those is true. But genuinely, seeing what most of those contestants achieve in a matter of months is very very inspiring. I dearly wanted to apply for the UK version this year, mainly for the benefit of working with the trainers, but sadly 3 months away from home, family and work is just not a realistic option so I have to find my own way to reclaim control.
So in addition to Food Optimising which starts now, I am looking for a way to heave my bulk into an exercise regime. I am still a member of a gym, and must dust my card off soon. I still own a lovely bike. But since neither of those things has got me off the couch for several months, I found myself searching for something that might. Some of you might remember my most triumphant moment in 2008, when I did the Race For Life. That's the feeling I want to get back! Now if you google the terms "couch" and "5k" a remarkable thing happens. That's right, there's an actual training programme called Couch to 5K! It's goal is in it's name, and it is made to sound oh so simple. 30 minutes, 3 times a week. Start off by walking some, jogging a little bit, walking some more, and week by week improve the ratio of jogging:walking, and at the end of week 9 you too can be running 5K. I've done day 1, I actually made it and didn't die. I posted my small triumph on Facebook, as you do, and my brother commented "The first step is the hardest!". Well I'm telling you, I've read the rest of the plan and I think he's mistaken :)
Well, here it is, but I don't want the whole world knowing it - I'm back at Slimming World as of today, and as fat as ever. When you look up the phrase Yo-yo Dieter in the dictionary, you'll find my picture there. It's not a pretty sight.
So I have sat through several series and 3 continents worth of The Biggest Loser and allowed myself to slowly but surely absorb the message - exercise and healthy eating will change my life and win me £250,000. Only one of those is true. But genuinely, seeing what most of those contestants achieve in a matter of months is very very inspiring. I dearly wanted to apply for the UK version this year, mainly for the benefit of working with the trainers, but sadly 3 months away from home, family and work is just not a realistic option so I have to find my own way to reclaim control.
So in addition to Food Optimising which starts now, I am looking for a way to heave my bulk into an exercise regime. I am still a member of a gym, and must dust my card off soon. I still own a lovely bike. But since neither of those things has got me off the couch for several months, I found myself searching for something that might. Some of you might remember my most triumphant moment in 2008, when I did the Race For Life. That's the feeling I want to get back! Now if you google the terms "couch" and "5k" a remarkable thing happens. That's right, there's an actual training programme called Couch to 5K! It's goal is in it's name, and it is made to sound oh so simple. 30 minutes, 3 times a week. Start off by walking some, jogging a little bit, walking some more, and week by week improve the ratio of jogging:walking, and at the end of week 9 you too can be running 5K. I've done day 1, I actually made it and didn't die. I posted my small triumph on Facebook, as you do, and my brother commented "The first step is the hardest!". Well I'm telling you, I've read the rest of the plan and I think he's mistaken :)
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Recycling
Just a quick update:
Where I am right now is getting back into exercise. I was having my blood pressure checked last week as part of my hypertension review, and chatting to my doctor at the same time as you do - relax, don't get tense, keep those numbers as low as possible! Anyhow, somehow he managed to get through to my tiny stubborn little brain with the words "you need to be doing an hour a day exercise, every single day. You need to prioritise that hour, and if you were to do that and change nothing else, you would lose weight."
Nobody else has ever told me that I need to exercise for a whole hour per day, 7 days a week. This was new, startling and frankly unbelievable advice. I went away thinking there was no way I could ever find an hour a day! But then the whole needing to stay alive thing kicked me in the head, and I was suddenly very very motivated to do my best, come what may.
I already have my bike, I already enjoy riding it. So I just need to step that up really. That and be less lazy, walk or ride instead of using the car, go a bit further and brisker on dog walks and so on.
So on Saturday I dragged Rebecca out against her will and we went for a 10 mile bike ride. It took an agonising 2 hours because I had to be extremely positive and encouraging to get Rebecca to keep moving forward, and we did sit and have a little picnic at the halfway point. We have a similar ride but quicker, planned for tomorrow. And in the meantime I have cycled most days, walked harder, and generally kept myself physically active in a way that I haven't for quite some time.
Right at the very beginnning of this journey, before I started blogging, before I started slimming world, I started exercising in earnest. Once I had a good solid exercise regime up and running, that was when I felt able to tackle the eating. So maybe, just possibly, cycling will, well, begin the cycle again!
Where I am right now is getting back into exercise. I was having my blood pressure checked last week as part of my hypertension review, and chatting to my doctor at the same time as you do - relax, don't get tense, keep those numbers as low as possible! Anyhow, somehow he managed to get through to my tiny stubborn little brain with the words "you need to be doing an hour a day exercise, every single day. You need to prioritise that hour, and if you were to do that and change nothing else, you would lose weight."
Nobody else has ever told me that I need to exercise for a whole hour per day, 7 days a week. This was new, startling and frankly unbelievable advice. I went away thinking there was no way I could ever find an hour a day! But then the whole needing to stay alive thing kicked me in the head, and I was suddenly very very motivated to do my best, come what may.
I already have my bike, I already enjoy riding it. So I just need to step that up really. That and be less lazy, walk or ride instead of using the car, go a bit further and brisker on dog walks and so on.
So on Saturday I dragged Rebecca out against her will and we went for a 10 mile bike ride. It took an agonising 2 hours because I had to be extremely positive and encouraging to get Rebecca to keep moving forward, and we did sit and have a little picnic at the halfway point. We have a similar ride but quicker, planned for tomorrow. And in the meantime I have cycled most days, walked harder, and generally kept myself physically active in a way that I haven't for quite some time.
Right at the very beginnning of this journey, before I started blogging, before I started slimming world, I started exercising in earnest. Once I had a good solid exercise regime up and running, that was when I felt able to tackle the eating. So maybe, just possibly, cycling will, well, begin the cycle again!
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Haste Ye Back!
Oh god, I've been missing all summer! And this is true of real life too, we spent the summer swanning off on various camping trips, punctuated by a few short bursts of work. I'll pay the price of the lack of working in my wages at the end of this month, October may not be easy!
So rather than prattle on about my weight or my diet, I thought I'd share my holiday snaps with you for a change.
To launch the summer, we headed off to Delamere Forest, with our bikes in tow. We had just 2 rides in the forest before my brand new bike's chain jammed between the gear cogs, rendering it unusable. The conversation in the bike shop began like this: "So, I was out on my bike in the middle of the forest, miles from home..." and happily ended with my bike repaired and returned to me the same afternoon.
For our second jaunt of the summer holidays, we headed to Bakewell in the Peak District, where we spent a few fabulous days with my imaginary friends from the internet. We've all got them, right?
Finally we headed north, to Bonnie Scotland. We stayed in a Eurocamp tent at Cobleland, near Stirling. We had the best time, being absolute tourists and visiting places we had never visited before - Edinburgh, Stirling, Loch Lomond, Gretna Green!
So that's it, the summer's over, it's September and it's high time I climbed back on the wagon!
Friday, 23 July 2010
Lose Weight, Or Die Trying!
This was my motto this last week. It was a motto I chanted to myself on a regular basis. There was no way on earth I was going to allow myself to return to the scales last night with anything but a loss. The size of the loss didn't even matter, one again it was simply about regaining control of the situation and getting those pounds moving off again.
And happily I once again proved that when I give it 100% effort, I can indeed shed the weight - a nice healthy 2.5lbs loss this week, bringing me to 1st 8lbs off (and over 4st since this whole thing began back whenever it was, which is good for me to realise sometimes, when I am in a less positive mood!)
I achieved this loss by doing a "Speed Food Challenge" which involves choosing more of my food from a list identified as being good for speedier weight loss. So most fruit and veg (for some reason when we talk of speed food in class, we all think of pineapple, but that's not the only speed food!), poultry, beans, some fish and so on. I could have been limited by my budget, as pay day is next week. But Google is my friend and upon searching for speed food recipes I found Mushy Pea Curry - and all the ingredients were already in my cupboards! I confess to feeling a bit nervous about trying it - let's be honest, you're never going to see it made on Masterchef! But actually it was really tasty and filling. It was very reminiscent of chip shop curry sauce, and although I enjoyed it with Basmati rice, I could well imagine eating it poured over Slimming World chips instead. The only thing I would say is if you are the sort of person for whom presentation is important, you might want to close your eyes when you sit down to eat this curry!
My other great revelation this week was frozen chopped onions - how could I have got to 43 years old without knowing about them? They have saved me so much time and effort this week, and I can make a chilli without all those onion related tears now! Whoever invented them, I salute you!
And happily I once again proved that when I give it 100% effort, I can indeed shed the weight - a nice healthy 2.5lbs loss this week, bringing me to 1st 8lbs off (and over 4st since this whole thing began back whenever it was, which is good for me to realise sometimes, when I am in a less positive mood!)
I achieved this loss by doing a "Speed Food Challenge" which involves choosing more of my food from a list identified as being good for speedier weight loss. So most fruit and veg (for some reason when we talk of speed food in class, we all think of pineapple, but that's not the only speed food!), poultry, beans, some fish and so on. I could have been limited by my budget, as pay day is next week. But Google is my friend and upon searching for speed food recipes I found Mushy Pea Curry - and all the ingredients were already in my cupboards! I confess to feeling a bit nervous about trying it - let's be honest, you're never going to see it made on Masterchef! But actually it was really tasty and filling. It was very reminiscent of chip shop curry sauce, and although I enjoyed it with Basmati rice, I could well imagine eating it poured over Slimming World chips instead. The only thing I would say is if you are the sort of person for whom presentation is important, you might want to close your eyes when you sit down to eat this curry!
My other great revelation this week was frozen chopped onions - how could I have got to 43 years old without knowing about them? They have saved me so much time and effort this week, and I can make a chilli without all those onion related tears now! Whoever invented them, I salute you!
Friday, 16 July 2010
In which my brain broke.
After that amazing 6lb weight loss, wouldn't any normal person be inspired enough to keep up the momentum? You'd think! Sadly, my wiring is all wrong and so that wasn't what happened. Instead I have struggled to find the plot. First of all there was more camping which meant I let things slide a bit. On our return I did battle like mad to recover from any harm done, and managed a half pound gain. And then this whole week I have just struggled constantly to make the right choices.
And then, if we needed any further evidence that there is something not working as it should in my brain, an hour before weigh in I went to MacDonalds and out of my mouth spilled an order for a sweet chilli chicken deli sandwhich, fries and a Mars milkshake. What the hell was I thinking?!
If anyone out there has any idea what would drive someone to do that, an hour before weigh in, please please enlighten me because I don't know!
By some miracle I got away with a maintain this week but I'm going to have to work damn hard to avoid converting it to a gain next week. I'm doing a speed food challenge which I know can have amazing results, but the main result I desire is control.
And then, if we needed any further evidence that there is something not working as it should in my brain, an hour before weigh in I went to MacDonalds and out of my mouth spilled an order for a sweet chilli chicken deli sandwhich, fries and a Mars milkshake. What the hell was I thinking?!
If anyone out there has any idea what would drive someone to do that, an hour before weigh in, please please enlighten me because I don't know!
By some miracle I got away with a maintain this week but I'm going to have to work damn hard to avoid converting it to a gain next week. I'm doing a speed food challenge which I know can have amazing results, but the main result I desire is control.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Give Yourself A Shiny!
I'm still doing it! Why I haven't updated the blog I just don't know, other than being busy with working and camping and stuff! I do have an incomplete post I started a couple of weeks ago after weigh in, but it feels out of date now!
So a couple of weeks ago I lost 1lb, gaining me a lovely shiny 1 stone award, and then last week, mainly due to being too hot to bother with much food, I lost an incredible 6lbs! This right after telling Heather that I was very happy to lose a pound a week - she must think I'm a big liar now and went out to have a big loss on purpose!
We went camping again this weekend and it was a very very basic site with really no facilities. This meant the easiest thing to eat was sandwiches really, so I did, but hopefully in sufficient moderation to have done no real harm to the weight loss. It did however invoke evil heartburn in me - there is little doubt in my mind that I am quite intolerant to wheat, since I only have to eat a small amount of wheat based food to need to heft out the Gaviscon. Coming from many generations of bakers, this is either shameful or hardly suprising, I'm not sure which!
I'm hoping for a 1lb loss this week to bring me neatly to my 1 1/2 stone award. Fingers crossed!
So a couple of weeks ago I lost 1lb, gaining me a lovely shiny 1 stone award, and then last week, mainly due to being too hot to bother with much food, I lost an incredible 6lbs! This right after telling Heather that I was very happy to lose a pound a week - she must think I'm a big liar now and went out to have a big loss on purpose!
We went camping again this weekend and it was a very very basic site with really no facilities. This meant the easiest thing to eat was sandwiches really, so I did, but hopefully in sufficient moderation to have done no real harm to the weight loss. It did however invoke evil heartburn in me - there is little doubt in my mind that I am quite intolerant to wheat, since I only have to eat a small amount of wheat based food to need to heft out the Gaviscon. Coming from many generations of bakers, this is either shameful or hardly suprising, I'm not sure which!
I'm hoping for a 1lb loss this week to bring me neatly to my 1 1/2 stone award. Fingers crossed!
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